It’s Phubbing in the city

A smile , for an emoticon , a phone call to a status update – a real conversation instead of that green button next to your name, a good old chat to a text message – is the line distinguishing the real and virtual world thinning as we speak?  How anti-social is the social media making us?

Imagine a world, where face to face conversations are the hardest things we , human beings had to face ! Envisage a world where relationships were based on virtual identities , where a status update conveyed more than a good old talk; where feelings replace emoticons , and companionship  is taken over by those flat tablets we carry around in our pockets . yes, welcome to the world of phubbing , where you still live on good old earth , but your mind lives miles away in the virtual world called the internet.

The term Phubbing , was christened as of recently , when the rage of smart phones and iPhones took a sudden acceleration and became the common play toy of every one. Wherever we look , we find them , the phubbers – toying with their phones, eyes peeled to the screen ,walking around in a daze , as if the screen of the smartphone contained the elixir of life.

 Which brings us to the definition of Phubbing , which is defined as the act of snubbing someone in a social setting by paying more attention to your phone , instead of the person.

A simple term , but complicated enough to make the world go nuts – statistics show that an average restaurant sees 27 cases of phubbing per dinner session – which is tantamount to spending 570 days alone , while in the company of others!the case is as simple as saying , you are in a world, surrounded by real people with real emotions , but your mind is far away , in this virtual cobweb of display pictures, walls, and languid conversations that are as fragile and proportional to the internet / wi-fi connection in that location - pretty ironic !

The sad fact is that over 60 percent of these phubbers have no idea that they are phubbing people near and dear to them. Mostly in the case of teenagers and young adults who are oblivious of the fact that people, usually the generation older to them are completely insulted and overwhelmed at their constant pre-occupation with their phones.

Phubbing is gripping the world in a whirlwind , and India is at its epicenter. Technology flashes her fins at every juncture , and with wi-fi and 3G being an average Indian’s daily need , the virtual world is something a phubber carries along with him , in his pocket. This attraction can be attributed to the apps that are developed in the dozens everyday .

90 % phubbers use their phones to put up quirky status updates, to purchase music off sites, to like their friends trolls and jokes , search for a Laundromat , google chuck Norris and do the ‘been there done that’ trail  on foursquare.

 From games to weather checks – from stress busters to something as bizarre as a teeth whitening app – ‘virtuality ‘- a feeling of being real in the virtual world is soon going to have to find her place in the dictionary.

The real question is , where does Phubbing leave us? A bunch of ‘smart’ individuals with their cool phones who are not smart enough to have a real face to face conversation? Statistics quote that 87 % teenagers would rather text , than say what is on their mind. “ it makes me feel more comfortable. Texting gives me a certain courage, and strength to say what I really feel” says Meenu , an engineering student who says that she is able to communicate to her boyfriend best , when she is texting , or whatsapping , than face to face.

Phubbing is taking on more nooks and corners of the world as we talk, and more people are being sucked into this pseudo –cool- universe that is as real as virtual can get. It is time we did a rain check on this notion that is gripping the nation , and shook the phubbers awake … Phubbing has been labeled by etiquette advisors as the end of civilization. Is that what we want for our future?

For starters , let’s put our phones down and believe what we see . (pun intended)